Chance Encounters
by DarkElements10
Summary: The four times Barry and Cadence almost met, and the one time they did. [Pre-series] *Companion to Flash Fire, Crossfire, and Fuel to the Fire*.


**Chance Encounters**

 **By: Riley**

 **Summary – The four times Barry and Cadence almost met, and the one time they did. [Pre-series]**

* * *

 **One: 17**

"I'm so late, I'm so late, I'm so late," Barry murmured to himself as he ran back and forth in his room, gathering his things together.

Joe was going to kill him if he got a phone call from the high school again, telling them that Barry was late. His ears were _still_ ringing from the last lecture Joe had given him about being on time and not giving excuses. He didn't have any excuse, it was an explanation; time always got away from him. Even if Iris woke him up and they got ready together, one second he was double checking his homework the next thing he knew the house was eerily quiet.

He had hoped Iris would make sure he was ready to go, but then he remembered Joe had forbidden her from doing it. Because she had to let him learn how to do it on his own; like he was a baby or something. But with no car to drive and the late bus already having left he had to run the whole way there.

If there was anything he was used to it, it was running.

Grabbing his backpack off the counter, nearly wrenching his arm out of the socket with all of the science textbooks shoved inside, Barry took out the front door. Feet pounding the pavement he ran as fast as he could, his backpack jostling his balance back and forth with each step.

With his recent growth spurt he managed to make up more distance faster, coming to the streets only a few blocks away from the school in about twenty minutes. He nearly fell over as he skidded around the corner, leaning as far as he could to keep his balance.

And he almost crashed into a young woman pushing a stroller as he did so. His right leg clipped the front, violently jostling it, the wheels coming off the ground for a second.

"Oh my gosh!" the girl cried, immediately coming to a stop.

Barry whipped his backpack around to his other shoulder, to off-set falling onto the front end of the stroller and shuffled is feet, side-stepping in a Broadway show-like fashion as he did so. "Sorry, sorry! I'm—"Barry cut himself off as he shifted back and forth, trying to decide whether to stop or keep going. "Sorry!" He turned and kept running, nearly kicking up dust as he went.

Cadence glanced after the guy that nearly ran into her before kneeling in front of the stroller. She pulled up the front shade and looked in at her baby. "Are you okay, Brady?"

She let out a sigh of relief. Brady was smiling, clapping his hands together, as if the ride he had just went on was on purpose. He stuck a finger in his mouth as he gurgled, making what sounded like the word, "Mama," over and over again. Then he screeched and started flapping his hands, the sure sign of his excitement.

Cadence glanced over her shoulder and down the street where the boy went. He had already disappeared from sight and it had only been a few seconds since he ran into her. "Man, he runs fast," she commented under her breath.

She turned back to Brady and reached out, ruffling his hair. "You don't seem too traumatized, bud. Let's keep going."

With that she got to her feet, and stepped behind the stroller once again starting to push it down the street. "I wonder what he's late to," she commented.

Brady continued to clap his hands.

 **Two: 18**

Cadence gently kicked her soccer ball to the side and watched as Brady toddled after it, as fast as his legs would carry him. He grabbed onto the ball and turned, waddling it back to her, holding it tightly in his arms before dropping it at her feet.

"Good job, bud!" She encouraged, ruffling his hair. Brady smiled cutely up at her, walking over to grab onto her leg. He only let go when she kicked the ball again and motioned for him to retrieve it. "Go on, go get the ball."

Brady then peeled his arms from around her legs and went running for it once more. This time, when he reached it, he picked it up and started to turn towards her but stopped. Something had caught his attention. Following his gaze, Cadence looked over and smiled as she watched an African-American man and a younger white teen throw a football back and forth.

"Yeah, they're playing football," she said to him.

"Foo…ball," Brady replied. He turned back to Cadence, eyes shining. "Football, mama!"

"Yeah, that's right!"

"Head's up!" Cadence whipped her head around to find the football rolling her way, turning head over tail across the ground. She jogged over and grabbed onto it, placing her fingers on the laces as she examined the ball. Then she lifted her head and noticed the African-American man was waving a hand towards her. "A little help?"

"Sure!" Cadence pulled her arm back and snapped it forward. It wasn't the best throw but the ball spiraled a little bit as it flew back into the hands of the man. She waved her response as the man called his thanks, then felt something bump against her leg. She looked down to see Brady walk forward so that the soccer ball he was holding bumped her leg, back up a few steps, then move forward to do it again.

He squealed with laughter as Cadence swooped him up into her arms, tickling his stomach.

Across Central City Park Barry watched in frustrated dismay as Joe retrieved the wayward football. He hoped a little bit that they would've lost the ball. Anything so they could get over this whole football thing. What was he thinking signing up to try out? He wasn't a football player. He could run fast and really didn't like the idea of being tackled, but…

It was his senior year of high school and he wanted to try something different. To make a mark on his time at Central City High School so he known as something other than 'that science nerd' or 'the guy whose father murdered his mother'.

If only he could catch the ball.

"Okay, let's try again!" Joe declared. He pulled his arm back and Barry started to run up the grass, long legs churning. He looked over his shoulder to follow the path of the ball and quickly realized he wasn't going to catch it. He stuck out his arm, hoping he could stretch his fingertips far enough so that he could grab it last minute. But the ball sailed past his fingers and he started to lose his balance, pulling his arm into his chest, and rolled across his shoulders as he fell to the ground.

Barry came to a stop on his back and let out a long breath, staring up at the sky. Hearing the sound of laughter he sat up and rested his arms around his knees.

Joe walked over to him, holding out a hand.

Grabbing onto it, Barry was pulled to his feet.

Joe had a large grin on his face and Barry could see his shoulders shaking.

"Stop it," Barry said to him.

Joe burst out laughing.

 **Three: 20  
**

Running a hand through his hair, Barry glanced at the numbers that sat by the doors of the academic building situated on the far side of picture-esque college campus. They numbers along the doors seemed to be going in the opposite direction he wanted despite having just entered. He glanced at the numbers again, eyebrows furrowing before he pulled out his phone to glance at his schedule once more.

A sigh escaped his lips as he looked at the time on his phone. He couldn't be late for class on his first day of the new year. Especially when his friends were already starting to make fun of him for it; he made it on time for the first class but was always late for everything else. And because he was always the designated driver when they went on bar crawls, only really indulging in drinks when he was done with exams.

"Where are you, Room 34?" He muttered to himself.

"Down the hall, around the corner," a girl said as she walked past him, eyes down on the cell phone up in her hand.

"Oh. Uh." Barry paused but she continued her trek in the opposite direction. He paused, unsure if she was close enough to call after her or too far away to even bother. "Thanks!"

"You're welcome!" Cadence called back.

 **Four: 22  
**

Cadence slid her backpack down her shoulder as she slid in her seat, ready for her lecture. She gathered her books together, double checking that she was in the right class, then opened her laptop, ready to take notes. Finally relaxed after dropping Brady off at the university's daycare she could focus more of her attention on the last of her classes. It wasn't much longer until graduation and she needed to be sure she would graduate within the next couple of months.

Tucking her hair behind her ear, she looked towards the door as other students walked in, filing into the seats of the room. She tapped her fingers against the notebook in front of her, waiting for the professor to start the class. Then she sat at rapid attention, doing her best to focus on the class and herself as much as possible; the last thing she wanted was to accidentally set her notebook on fire.

Again.

That had been an interesting class when she slipped and let go of her powers. She then had the rumor spread that she was willingly trying to set off a diversion so that she didn't have to take an exam. That would've worked if she sent a haze of smoke around the room rather than set her things on fire. It was a good notebook.

The professor had just started class when the door burst open and a disheveled man about her age came through the door. His face turned red as all eyes, including the professor's, turned his way. He held a coffee cup in one hand, a book in the other, his backpack nearly falling off his back.

"Sorry," he apologized meekly. "I just…there was some construction…they're fixing up the new…" he trailed off and ducked his head, walking to the other free seat in the room. Cadence smiled to herself as she watched him go.

Cheeks flaming, Barry slid into his seat, wishing that the ground would swallow him up or that he had some way to go back in time and hope he could make a better first impression.

 **Five: 24  
**

"Come on, come on…" Barry glanced at his watch, willing the Barista to move faster. Captain Singh was going to get on his ass, again, if he were late with his drink order. It wouldn't be so bad if CC Jitters wasn't so close to the precinct already.

It was where every officer in the city stopped for breakfast or on their lunch break. And Captain Singh was already timing him due to how many times he had been late to work that week alone. And the line was moving at a snail's pace. Finally, he got to the front and ordered the drinks. While waiting to pick them up CC Jitters quickly became packed and Barry continued to shift and bob and weave while more and more people came to retrieve their orders.

Finally he heard his call, "Caffé Mocha!" And moved to the front to pick up his cup. He had his hand firmly around it when he heard a friendly voice say, "I'm sorry, but I think that one's my order."

Barry turned to the side to find a woman about his age in pink scrubs, hair lose around her shoulders. She was pointing to the cup in his hand. "No, I, I'm pretty sure it's mine," he said.

"Doesn't look like a hot chocolate to me," Cadence commented. Then she reached out and touched his hand, pushing it closer to his mouth. "Go ahead and take a sip, I'm not worried about cooties." Barry hesitated and she held up her hands. "I promise, its fine. My hands are sterile and everything." Her eyes flashed with mirth; he had the feeling she was messing with him.

Feeling as if he had no other choice, Barry started to move the rim to his mouth. "It's not like I thought you were dirty or anything." His eyes flew open, completely mortified. "I mean, not like, I guess, uh." He rubbed his forehead. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply…" Cadence just gave him a funny look. "I'll just…" he put the rim to his mouth and took a sip. "Uh, no, not Caffé Mocha," he said, pulling it away. "Sorry." He held it out to her. "I can order you another one."

"Don't worry about it," Cadence took it back. She lifted it to him in a 'cheers' gesture as she backed away from him. "At least I know it's not scalding hot."

Barry nodded, waved, immediately felt stupid for doing so, and turned back to watch for his actual order to come through.

* * *

 **THE END**


End file.
